TAG Cassie
Spring cleaning
I spent some time in the observatory, tidying up after a pretty nice set of imaging runs this winter. I had mounted up Cassie a while ago, but wanted to see if […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
M106, Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
I got Cassie back on the mount, and now my target selection has totally changed. All the tolerances need to be a little tighter with the longer focal length, so I decided […]
Focuser / Gear / Maintenance / Observatory
Spring time – Pumpkin out, Cassie in
I’ve been working over Astromart again, trying to build up a “big boy” set of eyepieces, you know, for that public outreach I never do 🙂 Anyway, so far I’ve picked up […]
Achievement Unlocked!
The Junior Astronomer has now earned the title Junior Astrophotographer. First, let me say that this photo took a long time to process, because somehow my lunar processing mojo went out the […]
Astro knowledge / Blog / Gear / General / Maintenance / Observing Reports / Techniques / Telescope
Back to basics.
I used to be good at this. Omg, gaggle of geese flying over. Local dogs wigging out. But, I digress. I got Really good at planetary, but had higher hopes, and this […]
Camera / Gear / Solar System Photography
Jupiter April 9, 2016
Jupiter has been making a really nice pass lately, just parked in the sky under Leo’s hindquarters. It’s been a long time since I did any planetary photography of note; with the […]
Camera / Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
An evening with a friend
The Jr. Astronomer decided to call it a night early, but her cousin, L_, was staying the night, and he wanted to learn about the sky, so we stayed up real late […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography / Observatory
This is starting to get fun again.
Let me be frank. There are many, many things that need fixing around Hilltop O. Chasing the dome around has been a joy, actually, learning the ropes of this young ship, just […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Two targets, all 20m subframes, woot!
Thus begins a new era. First, a little history. When I built the observatory in Newark, CA, the light pollution was so bad that the sky never got darker than about brownish-pink […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
OK, I need to stop shooting 5m subframes.
I decided to go after The Owl Nebula, as I’ve only gotten one shot of it previously, despite years of hunting in Ursa Major. So I caught half an hour of it, […]
RECENT UPDATE
Polar Alignment Calculations
Here’s a page that derives Polar Alignment Calculations. (update 5/2020: the original site is gone, so I found the text on Wayback and am inserting it below. This is by the original […]
Gear / Observatory / Telescope
Special Guest Star takes the mount at Hilltop O
The Astro Jedi needed somewhere to store his light sab—- I mean, bucket, and I was only too happy to accommodate him. I have decided that I need to come to a […]
General / Maintenance / Observatory
Dome shutter is motorized again!
I finally decided to bite the bullet and fix the shutter motor. Things went sideways last winter, and I’ve been opening the shutter manually (and tying it shut with rope, so we […]
Trixie 2017 – tube mods
I finally got around to cutting the MTA-UTA tubes to length; the only eyepiece that would come to focus with the focuser spacer in place is the Televue 55mm Plossl. If I […]
MOST COMMENTED
Observatory
Observatory 2.0 – Time has come today!
General / Maintenance
First Light, a deeper look
Mount / Observatory / Telescope
Observatory 2.0 – Result!
Observatory
Observatory 2.0 – The Pier goes in
Gear / General / Maintenance
Martin Farmer Wormblock installation notes
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC2244, The Rosette Nebula
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Another beautiful night.